A： Now, I'm going to ask you some questions about Japanese culture. Please
explain a Japanese holiday that is religious and a holiday that is not
religious.

You mean, by citing an example.

A： Yes please.

（少し考えてから）As for a holiday that is religious, I can say "Obon"
is a religious holiday in Japan. It is on August 15th. It is a Buddhist
holiday and we invite Buddhist priest to our house and also prepare special
dishes for our ancestors.

B： Is "Obon" on August 15th?（ここで私は自分の発言の間違い気がつく）

Sorry. "Obon" is from August 13th to 15th.（実際は16日まで入るらしい）

B：OK.
And about the holiday which is not religious, that is the "Coming-of-Age",
"Seijin-no-hi" in Japanese. This is the day to celebrate the
people who become 20 years old in that year and it has nothing to do with
the religion. It used to be on January 15th, but it has been changed to
the second Monday of January.

A： Do you know why they've changed the date?

They've changed that holiday into Monday, because the government wants
people to take three-day-long holidays; Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

A： I see. Now, let me ask you another question. Why is the birthrate so
low in Japan?

OK. The birth rate in Japan in the year 2003 was 1.29, the lowest number
in Japanese history. There are two major reasons for this. The first reason
is the average age for Japanese young people getting married is getting
high. The average age for men is almost 30 and the average age for women
is almost 28. Many young people in Japan go to colleges or universities
for higher education and more and more women want to work as "professionals"
even after getting married. By the time women wish to have a baby, they
are already in their 30's, so one or two children would be maximum. （試験管A,B,C３人共うなずきながら聞いてくれる）
Another reason is financial problem. It costs so much in Japan to raise
children, and there are not enough day-care centers, especially in big
cities. Many Japanese couple live as a nuclear family, so we can't expect
grandmothers and grandfathers to take care of babies.

A： What do you think the government should do?（会話を続ける感じで質問）

I think that the government should set up a special budget to build more
day-care centers in every community. Also, I suggest that the government
should make the most of "senior citizens" as a workforce, since
they have experience in bringing up children and babysitting. For example,
my mother now volunteers to look after our neighbor's baby and she enjoys
it very much. If we fail to solve the problem of low birthrate, Japan
will have to face a serious problem in 20 years.

A： OK. That's all we want to ask. Thank you very much.

B： Thank you

Thank you so much. I enjoyed talking to you very much.（Cがドアを開けてくれて退室する。）